Dan Carter earned $1460 per minute for his debut with French club Racing 92

Dan Carter was paid more than NZ$1400 per minute for his debut with French club Racing 92.

The New Zealand star’s wage and performance have come under the spotlight as the European game digests the arrival of the sport’s highest paid player.

The Irish Examinerlooked at the monetary details of Carter’s part in Racing’s 33-3 win over the Northampton Saints in their European Champions Cup match last weekend.

Carter claimed man of the match honours and wide acclaim for his performance – his first since he dominated the Rugby World Cup final as the All Blacks beat the Wallabies in London to secure historic back-to-back titles.

The Irish Examiner used a calculator to apply “some rudimentary accountancy” to Carter’s French deal and came up with some staggering numbers.

They based their calculations on Carter’s reported NZ$2.76m per season deal at the Paris club.

Estimating Carter could play as many as 30 matches in Europe’s cluttered calendar if he stays fit, that works out at NZ$92,000 per game. Break that down further and Carter is on NZ$1150 a minute.

But Carter, easing into his job, was subbed after 63 minutes against Northampton, meaning that rate ballooned to NZ$1460 a minute for his work on the field that included landing three conversions.

TheIrish Examiner was good enough to provide some perspective, declaring the 33-year-old Kiwi was being paid “peanuts” compared to footballing superstar Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid.

They noted that Ronaldo’s basic pay, estimated at more than NZ$59m, dwarfed Carter’s income.

“But then Real Madrid cater for 80,000 at the Bernabeu. Racing barely managed 8000 at Colombes for the advent of rugby’s Pied Piper.”